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Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols is an American actress, born on December 28, 1933 in Robbins, Illinois. She is most famous for portraying communications officer Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the first six Star Trek Movies. Legacy Her role as Uhura on Star Trek was the first time that an African-American actress was portrayed in a non-stereotypical role. Previously, African-American female actresses were depicted as maids or housekeepers, and Nichols' role broke that stereotype barrier. Years later, Whoopi Goldberg would tell Nichols about excitedly watching Uhura, as a child, and telling her mother "Come Quick! Come Quick! There's a black lady on TV, and she ain't no maid!" She participated with series star William Shatner in another breakthrough, with television's first interracial kiss as seen in the original series episode "Plato's Stepchildren". She became the first African-American to place her handprints in front of Hollywood's Chinese Theatre, along with the rest of the Star Trek cast. In 1992, she earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nichols is good friends with former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison. Dr. Jemison was a fan of the original Star Trek and was inspired by Nichols when she decided to become the first African-American female astronaut. During the late 1970s until 1987, Nichelle Nichols was employed by NASA, making recruitment and training films, and was in charge of astronaut recruits and hopefuls. Most of the recruits that she launched were minority candidates of different races and/or ethnicities, as well as gender. Early career & other roles Discovered by Jazz legend Duke Ellington in her mid-teens, Nichols toured with both Ellington and Lionel Hampton as a lead singer and dancer. She broke into acting in the film Porgy and Bess (1959, with Sammy Davis, Jr., Loulie Jean Norman, and Brock Peters) and has had an acting career lasting over 45 years. Her first television role was on The Lieutenant (1964, which was written by Gene Roddenberry and featuring Gary Lockwood and Don Marshall). She has made several TV appearances as herself in; It Takes Two (1969), Head of the Class (1988), Weakest Link (2002), The Simpsons (2004), and two episodes of Futurama (2000, 2002). Her other film roles include: Made in Paris (1966, with Jack Perkins), the blaxploitation classic Truck Turner (1974, with Jazz / Funk musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Isaac Hayes and Dick Miller). Mister Buddwing (1966, with Ken Lynch, Bart Conrad, and Charles Seel), The Supernaturals (1986, with LeVar Burton, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Gary F. Bentley, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Maurice Gibb, and Robert V. Barron, also known for playing Abraham Lincoln in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), Disney's Snow Dogs (2002), and, most recently, Are We There Yet? (2005, with Jerry Hardin). She appeared as Ruana in two Tarzan films: Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion (1967, with fellow Star Trek actor Lloyd Haynes, William Marshall, and Jason Evers); and Tarzan's Deadly Silence (1970, with Robert Doqui). In 2004, she appeared with a number of other classic TV personalities, including Lost in Space star Bob May (Robot), Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno, children's television writer/producer Marty Krofft, Bewitched child-star Erin Murphy, The Munsters child-star Butch Patrick, and original Superman star Noel Neill (who played Lois Lane), in the film Surge of Power. She also appeared in the TV movies Gettin' Up Mornin' (1964, with Davis Roberts and Don Marshall) and William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1983, with Ted Sorel, Earl Boen, Barrie Ingham, Dan Mason, James Avery, and her original series co-star Walter Koenig). Background information Nichelle Nichols was considering leaving the Star Trek franchise after the first season. Fed up with the racist harassment, culminating with her learning that studio executives were withholding her fan mail, she submitted her resignation. She withdrew it when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. personally convinced her that her role was too important a cultural breakthrough to leave. She made both her first ("The Corbomite Maneuver") and last ("Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country") Star Trek appearances with DeForest Kelley. Her younger brother Thomas Nichols commited suicide March 26, 1997 with the Heaven's Gate cult members in Rancho Santa Fe, California near San Diego. Appearances * TOS: ** "The Corbomite Maneuver" ** "Mudd's Women" ** "The Man Trap" ** "The Naked Time" ** "Charlie X" ** "Balance of Terror" ** "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" ** "Dagger of the Mind" ** "The Conscience of the King" ** "The Galileo Seven" ** "Court Martial" ** "The Menagerie, Part I" ** "The Menagerie, Part II" ** "Shore Leave" ** "The Squire of Gothos" ** "Arena" ** "The Alternative Factor" ** "Tomorrow is Yesterday" ** "The Return of the Archons" ** "A Taste of Armageddon" ** "Space Seed" ** "This Side of Paradise" ** "Errand of Mercy" ** "The City on the Edge of Forever" ** "Operation -- Annihilate!" ** "Catspaw" ** "Metamorphosis" ** "Friday's Child" ** "Who Mourns for Adonais?" ** "Amok Time" ** "The Changeling" ** "Mirror, Mirror" in two roles, as Uhura and as Uhura (mirror) ** "The Deadly Years" ** "I, Mudd" ** "The Trouble with Tribbles" ** "Bread and Circuses" ** "Journey to Babel" ** "A Private Little War" ** "The Gamesters of Triskelion" ** "Obsession" ** "The Immunity Syndrome" ** "A Piece of the Action" ** "By Any Other Name" ** "Return to Tomorrow" ** "Patterns of Force" ** "The Ultimate Computer" ** "The Omega Glory" ** "Assignment: Earth" ** "Spectre of the Gun" ** "Elaan of Troyius" ** "The Enterprise Incident" ** "And the Children Shall Lead" ** "Spock's Brain" ** "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" ** "The Empath" ** "The Tholian Web" ** "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" ** "Day of the Dove" ** "Plato's Stepchildren" ** "Wink of an Eye" ** "That Which Survives" ** "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" ** "Whom Gods Destroy" ** "The Mark of Gideon" ** "The Lights of Zetar" ** "The Cloud Minders" ** "Requiem for Methuselah" ** "The Savage Curtain" * TAS: ** Incomplete *Star Trek Movies: **''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' **''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' **''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' **''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' **''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' **''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' *DS9: ** "Trials and Tribble-ations" (archive footage) See also Beyond Uhura External Links * Uhura's Official Website * *Nichelle Nichols at TriviaTribute.com: Pictures, links and trivia. 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